GOOD LIBATIONS

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The castle's owner led me into a shadowy room filled with malevolent objects. “Welcome to our prison and torture chamber,” he said.

“This is where we do performance reviews for our employees,” his evil assistant intoned, chuckling.

A clammy gust of wind chilled me to the bone as I gazed in horror around the dank and foreboding enclosure: an Iron Maiden. A rack. Other instruments I didn't recognize, their unknown uses making them even more terrifying.

OK, so I was actually in a Napa winery called Castello di Amorosa. (How could I resist that Halloween lead?) Its owner and our host was Dario Sattui, a respected name in the wine industry. His assistant wasn't evil at all. He was award-winning winemaker Brooks Painter, who's in charge of the considerable output at the winery that bears Sattui's name and also its neighbor, housed in this replica of a medieval Tuscan castle. It's one of Napa's biggest tourist attractions.

Why? Because it's not a Disneyfied version but the real thing, built with ancient bricks from Europe and complete with a moat, turrets, a drawbridge, grazing sheep, a feast hall and an armory. And a torture room.

“About 20 years ago I bought this property because of a beautiful old house that was here – a three-story, olive-colored Victorian,” Sattui said, gesturing down the hill toward the St. Helena Highway. The 170-acre site is one of Napa's prettiest locations, with gentle hills, forested glens, a stream and a lake. The purchase included a building permit for a large winery; the previous owner spent 13 years obtaining it.

But Sattui had no intention of building a winery. “I just wanted to grow small lots of Italian varietals.” He already had a successful operation with V. Sattui Winery, which he started from scratch almost 40 years ago.

“I decided to restart my great-grandfather's winery,” Sattui said. (His ancestor Vittorio Sattui, a native of Genoa, started making wine under his own name in San Francisco in 1885.) “At the time I didn't know anything about the wine industry. I had no money. I did it the hard way, not like a lot of these people who do it for lifestyle reasons.”

Sattui worked diligently and was eventually successful. V. Sattui sells 70,000 cases per year direct to the public.

Sattui and Castello wineries have done well recently in competitions with their Italian-style wines; some receive ratings in the 90s from Wine Spectator and Wine Enthusiast. Painter received the 2013 Andre Tchelistcheff Winemaker of the Year award from the San Francisco International Wine Competition.

What changed Sattui's mind about his new property was his passion for medieval architecture. “I've always been fascinated by the great castles of Europe, particularly in Tuscany,” he said. “I thought, ‘Why not try it here?'
”

At first, he scooted around Europe on a Vespa with a measuring tape, a camera and a notebook, sometimes even posing as an interested buyer to get access to ancient buildings he wanted to see and surreptitiously studying them.

Later, his growing success in the wine industry allowed Sattui to buy old properties in Italy: a small castle near Florence, a medieval monastery near Siena, a Medici palace in southern Tuscany. “You get the picture,” he said, smiling.

Sattui rattled off a dizzying list of facts during our private tour. “There are 107 rooms in the castle, and no two are alike. I'd say 85 to 90 rooms are dedicated to winemaking.” About three-quarters of the 122,000-square-foot facility is underground, including a labyrinthine wine cave that seems to go on forever.

As Sattui led us into the castle's consecrated chapel, his pride was evident.

“See that chandelier? Every chain link was made by hand. All the frescoes were painted by Italian artists. All the floor tiles are handmade. See this wine press? I brought it over from Europe. It was being used when George Washington was president. It still works.” I wasn't surprised to learn the price tag for Sattui's medieval labor of love was somewhere north of $30 million.

Sattui's energy seemed as strong as his pride. As we paused next to a small room dedicated to his great-grandfather – it even included a couple of unopened V. Sattui wine bottles from the 1880s – he finally paused.

“I'm told this is the most visited winery in the world. I know a lot of people come here just to see the castle, but a lot of them love our wine, too. That's why we have seven private tasting rooms.”

He smiled broadly and gestured around him. “My philosophy is if you're going to do something, then do it right!”

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